Subject: Number Seventy-Eight in the Series--North American XP-78 Mustang

From: [email-masked]
Date: 7 Jun 93 14:05:12 GMT

>From [email-masked]

XP-78 was the designation initially given to a version of the North 
American P-51 Mustang powered by the Packard-built Rolls Royce Merlin 
liquid-cooled engine.  On July 25, 1942, North American Aviation was 
authorized to adapt two P-51 Mustang airframes to Merlin 65 engines 
imported from England.  For the conversion, NAA selected two P-51s 
from the batch of Mustang IAs that had been repossessed from the RAF 
by the USAAF.  Their serial numbers were 41-37350 and 41-37421.  NAA 
gave the project the company designation NA-101.  These aircraft were 
considered sufficiently different from the existing Mustang that they 
were given a new designation--XP-78.  However, the designation of 
these two aircraft was changed to XP-51B while the work was 
progressing.  

Sources: 

  American Combat Planes, Ray Wagner, Third Enlarged Edition, Doubleday, 
  1982.  

  The American Fighter, Enzo Angelucci and Peter Bowers, Orion Books, 
  1987.  

  War Planes of the Second World War, Fighters, Volume Four, William 
  Green, Doubleday 1964.  

  United States Military Aircraft since 1909, Gordon Swanborough and 
  Peter M. Bowers, Smithsonian, 1989.  

  Fighting Mustang: The Chronicle of the P-51, William N. Hess, 
  Doubleday, 1970.  

  Classic Warplanes: North American P-51 Mustang, Bill Gunston, Gallery 
  Books, 1990.  

  Famous Fighters of the Second World War, Volume I, William Green, 
  1967.  

  The North American P-51B and C Mustang, Richard Atkins, Aircraft in 
  Profile, Doubleday, 1969.  

Joe Baugher		AT&T Bell Laboratories   	
2000 North Naperville Road      Naperville, Illinois 60566-7033